Good Morning, World

Back in 2012 Chris Evans was photographed clambering about shirtlessly on some rocks on the set of a photoshoot for what turned out to be Details magazine, and we were very excited, for obvious reasons. Then when the actual final shoot finally dropped a few weeks later it was a little bit of a disappointment, as Chris was wearing clothes in most of the photos -- what the fuck, Details? No wonder that magazine went under. 

Cut to 2021 (aka yesterday) and I was looking for a photo to post alongside the news that Chris is going to star opposite his one-time Marvel co-star Scarlett Johansson in the adventure-based rom-com Ghosted from Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher, which is being billed as a modern spin on Romancing the Stone, when what should I stumble upon but a butt-load of outtakes from said 2012 Details photoshoot -- ones that look like the shoot I was originally promised! I can finally exhale, you guys. Hit the jump for over thirty shots...

Taron Does Time

I was about to say "hot off his celebrated turn in Rocketman" but that was, what, one thousand months ago? I've lost tack of how time works. Anyway Rocketman's the last thing anybody saw Taron Egerton in and it was hot at the time -- especially when he listened to me dopily ask a couple of questions he's no doubt heard a thousand times and then posed for an awkward photo with me that once -- so the sentiment remains. Hot hot hot off Rocketman Taron's just signed up for a new project -- he's going to star in a six-part series called In With the Devil for Apple+ that will have him playing an ex-football star (!!!) sent to prison (!!!) who finds himself being used (!!!) in order to entrap another criminal (!!!). Unfortunately for all of those exclamatory marks it's not going to be that sexy probably, but it is being directed by Bullhead director Michael R. Rostkam, so maybe Taron will go the Matthias route and beef himself up for it. The role sounds beefy.

Pantys 19: The Gratuities

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Well it wouldn't be MNPP without some ogling of the menfolk, now would it? We've already taken stock of our favorite male and our favorite female performers of the year, but what about their butts? Butts, bits, in betweens. What's the movies without sex? Even David Cronenberg knows that. That said some years I've gone way overboard with listing the year's Gratuities -- I mean look how I went all out in 2010 and in 2011 -- but this year I'm keeping it, like the rest of this year's Pantys, somewhat under control. My 13 faves (I couldn't narrow it down to 10, I just couldn't) and then 10 runners-up. It's still a lot of naked guys, y'all. And let's get on 'em!

My 13 Favorite Gratuities of 2019

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, A Million Little Pieces

-- see more here --

Juan Barberini and Ramon Pujol,

End of the Century

Tom Mercier, Synonyms

Robert Pattinson, The Lighthouse

Jack Reynor, Midsommar

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There is life before seeing this picture of Chris Evans & Alessandro Nivola & Michiel Huisman on the set of Red Sea Diving Resort, and there is life after, and I never want to go back to that horrible Before place ever ever again (pic via https://t.co/QbwjXcQNW2) pic.twitter.com/TpFxcQhv8w

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) September 30, 2019

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Chris Evans, Michiel Huisman and 

Alessandro Nivola, Red Sea Diving Resort

-- see more here -- 

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Felix Maritaud, Sauvage / Wild

Naoki Kobayashi, Earthquake Bird

-- see more here --

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Andrew Garfield, Under the Silver Lake

-- see more here --

Jake Gyllenhaal, Velvet Buzzsaw

-- more here and here --

César Vicente, Pain and Glory

Kelvin Harrison Jr, Waves

Florian David Fitz and Matthias Schweighöfer, 

100 Things -- see lots more here --

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10 Runners-up

Taron Egerton & Richard Madden, Rocketman

Christopher Abbott, Piercing 

Matthias Schoenaerts, The Mustang

CM Punk, Girl on the Third Floor

Zac Efron, Extremely Wicked...
Shia LaBeouf, Peanut Butter Falcon

Carloto Cotta, Diamantino

Juan Pablo Olyslager, Temblores

Matthew McConaughey, Serenity

Vincent Lacoste and Pierre Deladonchamps, Sorry Angel

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What were some of your faves in 2019?

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Pantys '19: Performers, Part One -- Actors

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Every so often for my Golden Trousers awards I do something I call "Actor to Actor" where I write small scenes up of interaction between one of my favorite actors of the year and one of my favorite actresses of the year. Well I am not doing that this year. This year I'm just going to post my 10 favorites, with 10 runners-up. Keeping it simple! And so here, in no particular order and beginning with the men...

My 10 Favorite Actors of 2019

Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse

Jonathan Majors, The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Tom Mercier, Synonyms

Franz Rogowski, Transit

Géza Röhrig, To Dust

Matthias Schoenaerts, The Mustang

Jonas Dassler, The Golden Glove

Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory

Matthew Rhys, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Robert Pattinson, The Lighthouse

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Ten Runners Up

Asier Etxeandia, Pain and Glory

Kelvin Harrison Jr, Luce

Taron Egerton, Rocketman

Song Kang-ho, Parasite

Jack Reynor, Midsommar

Robert De Niro, The Irishman

Shia LaBeouf, Honey Boy

Jimmie Fails, The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Felix Maritaud, Sauvage/Wild

Aldis Hodge, Clemency

What were your fave male performances of 2019?
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Good Morning, World

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Happy Hangover Day, fellow gays -- the Oscars were last night, as I am sure every single one of you are aware, and I'm a little slow going this morning but not as bad as usual since the boyfriend was out of town for work and it felt weird real quick getting too drunk all by myself on the couch. I got a little drunk. But not too. Which probably comes through on my live-tweeting of the event -- I never devolved into deranged howls of vulgarity like I normally do. 

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I LOVE ROCKETMAN'S LITTLE GOLDEN STATUE pic.twitter.com/dwmcAE2Jte

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) February 10, 2020

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I think that says less about the crop of mostly good winners (nothing I wished for happened but it hardly ever does, and what did happen avoided the scope of tragedy... save that Editing win for the snooze-fest Ford v Ferrari, barf) than it does everything else I just said, but it was a good night for good movies. Do I wish they might've spread the wealth and awarded Best International Feature to Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory? Sure, but there's no way the voters knew the top prize was also going to Parasite, so whatever. We'll celebrate Pedro & Antonio Banderas' decades-long collaboration this morning with these shots from their marvelous 1987 flick Law of Desire, right on here after the jump...

Queer Kisses For Antonio & Co.

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When I posted my five favorite nominations yesterday for the Dorian Awards -- aka the annual prizes given out to movies of merit from the LGBT critic's guild GALECA, of which I am a member -- I knew the winners announcement was imminent, but it turned out to be really really imminent, showing up about half an hour after I posted that post. I'm glad I posted it beforehand though, since if I'd posted it after it might have seemed like sour grapes given nearly none of my picks ended up winning. Good things won! (Mostly.) We had plenty of love for Portrait of a Lady on Fire and I love that we gave Antonio Banderas Best Actor for Almodovar's Pain and Glory. 

And I very much like Parasite (my review), which strolled off with five prizes including Best Film and Best Director and Best Supporting Actor -- do I think Parasite is just a liiiiiittle overrated? I have said as much previously, yes. But far worse things can float to the top when it comes to consensus, and Parasite is nobody's bad movie. Anyway I'm the most happy we gave Florence Pugh an award, which was the one of my wishes that came true. Hooray for Florence! Hit the jump for the entire list of winners, and big gay congrats to them all...

5 Off My Head: The Dorians of '19

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I'm running late on sharing these with you since they were dropped on Friday when I was off, but the critic's guild I belong to called GALECA, aka The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, announced our Dorian Award nominees the other day, and they're generally pretty darn terrific if I do say so myself! (Spoiler alert: I do.)

Our pal Murtada wrote them all up at The Film Experience in total so I'll just toss you over there if you'd like to see them that way, but I figured before the winners are announced -- voting just ended today -- I'd highlight five of my favorite nominees, aka the sort of recognitions that only a group of us smart queers could come up with. We smart, we queer, get used to it!

5 of My Favorites Dorian Noms for 2019

The Lighthouse for "Visually Striking Film of the Year" -- This was the only nomination my favorite movie of the year received -- I didn't say we did a perfect job! -- so of course I'm going to highlight it immediately. This whole category is stacked though, with nominees also including Midsommar and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. (Read my The Lighthouse review here.)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire for Best Film & Director -- Speaking of, the best LGBT film of 2019 (if you don't count The Lighthouse, which fine don't count The Lighthouse, whatever) got a lot of love from our group, as well it should. I personally would've even given its two leading ladies acting noms over even some of our nominees. (Read my Portrait of a Lady on Fire review here.)

End of the Century for Best LGBT Film -- The best "G" film  out of the "LGBT" (again, if you don't count The Lighthouse...) got a nod, which rules. I wasn't sure how many of my fellow voters had seen this Argentinian gem. (Read my End of the Century review here.)

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Congrats to Taron on his Golden Globe! I think it was our three minute long crazy eyed conversation that really cinched the deal https://t.co/wlmQ81ecdN

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) January 8, 2020

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Taron Egerton in Rocketman for Best Actor -- Thank goodness we nominated Taron since we made the profound mistake of nominating Rami Malek last year! Taron's so much better. (Read my Rocketman review here.)

Florence Pugh for the "Rising Star of the Year" -- I have a dreaded sinking feeling that Pugh's name won't be called out on Oscar nomination morning on Tuesday, but we were smart enough to latch on here at the appropriate moment with this and with her nomination for Best Supporting Actress with Little Women. We can say we got it right at the right time, unlike the Oscars which will undoubtedly wait too long. (Please, prove me wrong, AMPAS!)

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And stay tuned for our winners, 

which will be announced soon...

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Smile, Rocketman, Smile

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I don't have much to say about the Golden Globe nominations because y'all should know by now how generally indifferent I am to movie awards by now, but I was happy to see Taron Egerton get some recognition for his stellar work in Rocketman -- if he was gonna show up anywhere it was gonna be the Globes so this isn't surprising, but still, good on 'em. It's a real damn shame his far superior performance seems to've had its momentum murdered by last year's garbage winning crap out of Rami Malek. Anyway as always click over to The Film Experience for coverage of awards stuff! i'm gonna go home tonight and give my new Rocketman book a big wet one.

This ROCKETMAN book is the gift that keeps on giving (thank you @KristyPuchko you know me well) pic.twitter.com/LBq69Duv90

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) December 8, 2019

Pics of the Day

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Well I'm usually loath to share photos of myself, especially mid-sentence and standing beside somebody as adorable as Taron Egerton, but whatever, you only live once and the internet hasn't murdered me just yet. I was worried I'd jinx myself when I mentioned on Monday that there was a Rocketman event happening this week but none such jinx materialized and whoa was me, sidled up against Taron last night. He put his hand on my shoulder! In all seriousness I only had a couple of minutes with him and I was per usual struck dumb within almost the entirety of that interaction -- I managed to sputter out that I've seen the film four times now and love it and he was obviously appreciative.

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Here are a couple of shots I took of Taron Egerton (and #Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher there in the back!) working the room pic.twitter.com/hP0PESZgXt

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) November 13, 2019

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Thankfully my boyfriend was there, and not just to take my picture -- he's actually good at the thing called "conversation" and brought up the first big party-scene in the film that really resonated with us (I mentioned it in my review) where the Sad Gay gets left all alone as all of his friends take off to hook up; who hasn't been there? And I'd never seen it depicted on-screen, at least in the context of the closet, before. Taron then told us a bit about an old roommate and good friend of his who is gay and how he (Taron that is) used a lot of their relationship, and what his friend was going through, for those moments of introspection and loneliness. Anyway he was lovely and I really hope he can keep himself in the Oscar talk, his work in Rocketman is some of the best acting we've seen this year. Oh and you can see one more photo on my Instagram...